Jn 6: 51-58

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Bread of Life

Several pivotal truths are contained in the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. One of these is that the Eucharist is Christ’s unconditional gift to us. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus said, “the living bread that came down from heaven….If anyone eats this bread he will live forever….the bread that I will give is my flesh that the world may have life.”

As we receive Christ’s self-gift we live more intimately with Christ, his eternal Father, and the Holy Spirit. We become one with Christ as a Eucharistic people. The love and grace and friendship of Christ are never far away. With St. Paul we can say: “I live, now not I, but Christ lives within me.” St. Ignatius insisted that his new religious order be called “the Society of Jesus.”

Prayer

O Lord, I am not worthy that you should come to me.Just speak your words of comfort; my spirit healed shall be.

—lines from a traditional hymn

Please share the Good Word with your friends!

St. Ignatius’s First Principle and Foundation says “The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God's life to flow into us without limit.” One of the ways in which we respond to the love God has given us is through prayer, not only personal prayer but community prayer as well.
The Pastoral Ministry Center invites members of our Strake Jesuit Community to share their prayers with us: their concerns, joys, thanksgivings, so that we may walk with them in all these times of their lives.

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Jn 6: 51-58

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Bread of Life

Several pivotal truths are contained in the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. One of these is that the Eucharist is Christ’s unconditional gift to us. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus said, “the living bread that came down from heaven….If anyone eats this bread he will live forever….the bread that I will give is my flesh that the world may have life.”

As we receive Christ’s self-gift we live more intimately with Christ, his eternal Father, and the Holy Spirit. We become one with Christ as a Eucharistic people. The love and grace and friendship of Christ are never far away. With St. Paul we can say: “I live, now not I, but Christ lives within me.” St. Ignatius insisted that his new religious order be called “the Society of Jesus.”